There was a time when computers were so expensive that only businesses could afford such purchases. These computers had to be housed in large facilities and the number of available applications could perhaps be counted using single hand. Today, we live in a very different world. Computing devices can now fit on a desk or even in one's pocket, purse, or briefcase as in the case of smartphones and tablet computers. There are now millions of these computing devices in the hands of consumers, businesses, and governments.
Indeed, there has also been an explosion in the number of applications available. For example, the Android Market and Apple App Store each have over 100,000 applications available, with many more applications being added each and every day. These applications are sometimes referred to as “apps.” There is a rich variety of applications. Some applications are merely for fun and entertainment. Other applications are for work. There are applications covering such diverse categories as business, games, health, recipes, shopping, sports, news, travel, and many more.
In some cases, an application developer or content provider may want to contact the computing device on which the application is installed. For example, there may be a critical software update, a new piece of information, or some other instruction or command for the device—just to name a few examples.
However, contacting the device can be daunting task for the application or content provider because there are many different factors to consider. There are dozens of different types, models, and platforms of mobile communications devices. Further, there are many different operating systems, different versions, and communication networks and carriers. In some cases, because of the complexity, the provider chooses not to contact the device or the contact fails. This may be especially unfortunate where the contact is related to a matter that is urgent such as a security concern, a large financial transaction, and so forth.
Therefore, there is a need to provide systems and techniques to facilitate contacting a mobile communications device.